The Los Angeles Lakers surprised a lot of people when they failed to make a move ahead of the 2024 NBA Trade Deadline.
Now L.A., who is 27-26 after 53 games, heads into the back half of the season boasting the same .500 roster it has had all along.
While the real reason the Lakers missed out on Dejounte Murray came out early Friday morning, another interesting tidbit also dropped the same day.
Specifically, it was the fact that Lakers coach Darvin Ham vetoed a potential trade at the deadline.
“With limited interest in their players with multiple years left on their contracts, one option the Lakers weighed was trading Taurean Prince, who is making $4.5 million on an expiring contract,” Buha reported.
“However, head coach Darvin Ham was one of the vocal supporters of retaining Prince, according to team sources.”
Now the onus is on Rob Pelinka and Co. to make something happen on the buyout market. The Lakers are currently being linked to three particular players, but it is hard to see any of them having a dramatic impact on how the rest of the year goes.
Most likely, L.A. will continue to toil away in mediocrity for the duration of this season.
From there, per Pelinka, they will make a play for one notable superstar.
3 Likeliest Lakers Buyout Candidates After NBA Trade Deadline: https://t.co/QQjjNv5Wsh
— Game 7 (@game7__) February 9, 2024
If they fail to get him – who knows what the plan is after that.
The Lakers are down bad right now. It is unlikely that trading away Prince would have changed that much, but it is also telling that Ham wouldn’t even let them explore the option.
One way or another, the next few months promise to be interesting for Lakers fans.
Related: Rob Pelinka Asked LeBron James For Permission At Trade Deadline
A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
